Naotaka to Yuki Onna: A Prelude
by Liber Fatum
Summary: Everyone knew that the Young Master would be an absolutely irresponsible ruler, but it had never mattered. But when a freak storm destroys the land, it is up to 19-year-old Komatsu Naotaka to find and slay the witch who had caused the disaster. AU and OC.


**Naotaka to Yuki-Onna no Monogatari~ A Prelude**

Disclaimer: I do not own _The Twelve Kingdoms_. Ono Fuyumi does. And so does Studio Pierrot. This shall be the first, and last disclaimer.

And now for something completely different...

Prologue: The Girl

Amidst the thunderous crashing of waves upon an unnamed bay of the Seto Inland Sea, the cry of a lone gull is heard. Spring had only recently arrived in the land, and the morning air was both crisp and chilly. The rich aroma of the ocean permeated strongly throughout the region. Rays of aurora-colored light broke through the clouds to cast its morning benediction upon the land. Soon, the clouds withdrew from the skyline, allowing light streaks of pink, gold and red to illuminate without hindrance, both the faint dawn sky and the calm, undulating sea.

It was both cruel and ironic; such a splendid sky juxtaposed with a pitiful storm-wrecked bay.

An unnatural tempest of howling winds and torrential rain had wreaked havoc in the region the previous night. All night long, the strange storm unleashed its fury upon the land. With thunder, and lightning, and rain and wind, it silenced arrogant mortals filled with hubris. _'_Seize all under Heaven?' it had seemingly raged. '_I _rule all under Heaven!' And now that dawn has come, all that remained of the land under Heaven was uprooted trees, flooded ground and the gentle light of the morning sky. The storm over, a calm quiet had descended upon the lands. Human dwellers still shivered in their rough shelters, too fearful to venture out. And so, the morning was filled only with the sounds of the crashing waves and the piercing cry of the lone gull. A cool breeze picked up; blowing at ravaged trees, and causing ripples in puddles and waterlogged areas. Even in its desolation, the ruined bay evoked a sense of beauty; a stark and cruel beauty it may be, but a beauty nonetheless.

In the aftermath of the devastation of the land, there lived but one creature who did not partake in the spirit of universal gloom.

Circling the devastated bay almost lazily, the lone gull would, now and then, cry out a raucous call; a call an experienced observer would quite correctly interpret as an expression of supreme smugness. The reason for the bird's smugness was never quite satisfactorily identified. However, given the nature of the bird, one could surmise, often correctly, that it probably had something to do with fish. Then again, it could also be smug for completely different, and completely pointless, reasons. One very often can't be too sure with gulls, or birds in general. There is, after all, a reason for the colloquial "bird-brained". At any rate, its aimless circling and 'caw-cawing' continued for quite some time; until upon spying a curious Object, it pompously made the decision to grace the curious Object with its presence. The bird abruptly veered downwards and glided swiftly, only beating its long wings as it neared the ground to sharply decelerate. It landed with much aplomb and affected grace. First objective: inspect the curious Object. Most unfortunately for the said curious Object, the normal (and only) method of inspection wielded by a bird of such limitations, involved pecking. And peck it did. Continuously. Persistently. Painfully.

Despite all that, the Object didn't move. The bird fixed the motionless Object with a beady stare. Frustratingly, it still refused to co-operate. The gull caw-cawed disinterestedly. '_How boring.'_ With one last peck, it finally lost all interest, and began positioning itself to take off into the air.

All of a sudden, a hand shot up and grabbed the bird by its tail feathers. The bird squawked indignantly, and screeched its protest loudly in nonsensical birdie curse-babbles. It turned as best as it could to face the now mobile Object, and retaliated by pecking savagely at the annoying Object. Flapping its long wings agitatedly, it struggled to be free of the Object's rather humiliating grasp. The Object, or Girl really, was proving to be a rather frustrating opponent, for not only was its (her) grasp annoyingly rock-solid, but also it (she) positively radiated an air of sleepy condescension, which even a bird of limitations such as the gull in question could sense.

Sense, and find absolutely infuriating.

It (She), however, could hardly be bothered. Pulling the resisting bird closer, she briefly studied the indignant, flapping bird, her bleary eyes blinking tiredly as she did. "_Nahjil_?" she murmured, questioning. Moments later, she then had apparently come to a favorable conclusion as an exhausted yet satisfied grin lit her face. She released the squawking bird, and started laughing tiredly, though with tremendous relief.

The bird was somewhat less amused.

It had shot out of her hand the moment she loosened her grasp, and had landed most unceremoniously on the ground, staggering and stumbling as it did; both its feathers and ego exceedingly ruffled. Picking itself up, the seagull flapped its thoroughly rumpled wings as it tried to salvage what was left of its tattered pride. The newly released bird stared warily at the Object (Girl), weighing its options.

_Fight or flight?_

Choosing to retreat to the relatively safe haven of the sky, squawking and screeching resentfully, it had quite apparently chosen flight.

* * *

Shifting to rest on her back, the Girl contemplated the pink-tinted sky, sighing and moving about lazily as she did. Her clothes were soaking wet, and she was quite cold besides. But such trivial matters didn't really bother her; she would get dry soon, and she didn't have to worry about odious things such as colds or sniffles. That was just the being she is. Then, something unsettling pulled at her, yanking her out of contentment. '_A memory of a memory...' _She began feeling nervous, unsure. _Was she really Home? _A flurry of hazy images nagged at her, shadows and formless thoughts that may have been memories. Or on the other hand, may not have been. Even the Girl didn't quite know which is what. '_Concentrate. Think.' S_moky shadows took shape in her mind, uncoiling and unwinding like serpents. Serpents slithered lazily in the recesses of the Girl's subconscious mind, which soon split into many more serpents, almost without a thought or care. Some of these newly formed serpents would soon sluggishly disintegrated into nothingness; others, formed more serpents. Even more would twine together to form larger and fatter serpents, so much so that they could no longer respectably be called serpents, but rather, glorified worms. And then, these serpents would split, and a similar cycle would repeat. Many countless times. Yet, if there were to be a similarity among the serpents, it would be in that all moved, and all moved aimlessly, focused it seemed on perpetuating its frenzy of activity for activity's sake. If there was a reason and purpose to this, then, it was one that is truly bizarre and utterly unknowable. But such is the way of all things. And the serpents were but a reflection of the Girl's mind, and by extension, that of all people.

Such is the way of all things.

Abruptly, the serpents stopped moving. Something had caught their undivided attention. By some strange design, the serpents exploded in purposeful motion. All in unison. All united with purpose and reason. The serpents became not-serpents; they became threads. Threads not of shadow or darkness, but of light and color; threads that make up a grand tapestry. And soon, the Girl remembered falling. Simply falling into a strange pit of cold golden light; light composed of twisting shapes, surrounded by a cacophony of voices.

Pit of golden light... Could it have been the fabled _shoku_? Was she some kind of reverse _kaikyaku? _

The Girl laughed nervously, '_Nah... Couldn't be.' _

Alright, _concentrate_. Voices. And the twisting shapes. Some of the voices, she recognized, or at least, she _thinks _she ought to recognize. Others were simply alien. The twisting shapes were harder to comprehend. Some she recalled as snippets of memories of her childhood, but there were also a great many more other things that did not quite fit, many of which she did not recognize. She saw things, things that, for better or for worse, she could only describe as images. She saw images of terror, images of pleasure, of grief and sadness, and of joy. Some painted hope and despair hand in hand; some she recognized as her own, but not all, not even a tenth. Many images she remembered seeing were of ridiculousness, of light-hearted moments, of complete stupidity and utter rashness. Others more portrayed abject cruelty juxtaposed with unbelievable kindness. Some were even pointless, or at least they seemed pointless. The Girl knew, from cruel experience, that no matter how seemingly pointless somethings seemed, everything had a reason and purpose; the Girl just didn't know what. And besides that was a myriad more of images; many of which the Girl can't seem to recall, and as time passed, would soon vanish completely from her memory. But this the Girl remembered; all images showed life. And all showed death. Life, which brings about death, which then brings about life. All connected. All separate. And all equal. All in a perfect circle of constant time. _That, _she remembered with absolute clarity.

And in that moment of clarity, the Girl remembered that she saw two other things besides. Two beings; two distinct and real beings that were there with her, there in that pit of golden light. An important fact to digest was that they both saw and recognized the Girl. From the widening of their eyes and other tell-tale signs besides, the Girl could tell; they knew who she was. Another fact would be that she recognized one of those beings. She knew that person perfectly well.

One was an animal of sorts; an animal of the large variety. A _youjyuu, _perhaps? Or maybe a _youma_… The Girl dismissed that thought. _'That can't be.' _ A more unsettling and important thought would be the other, the one she recognized. It… the other had been herself; the Girl, or rather the Other Girl.

Such a memory, or even a slight possibility of a memory of such an event was ludicrous. The Girl sniffed dismissively. Point one: the Other Girl had been crying, judging from her tear-stained face. The Girl begs to differ. The Girl does not _cry. _So, it couldn't possibly _be _her… The Girl realized something with a start, and chuckled ruefully. '_I'm being childish.'_ Maybe that wasn't such a good point. Anything can happen, after all. '_But it is _still_ ridiculous,' _the Girl thought, rather stubbornly. Nettled by the direction in which those thoughts were leading to, the Girl tried to think of the other, the Animal. Its size was distinctly large, definitely large enough to ride upon. A type of _youjyuu… _But she had never seen one with such a shape. The shape of the creature… Could it have been a wolf? Or, perhaps a dog? No… A fox? She frowned. It was too big to have been a fox. But, then again wolves and dogs aren't that much bigger either, unless they were_ youma_. So, a _youma_ wolf, dog or fox? The Girl frowned. '_That's impossible. For it to have been a youma is impossible.' _Then, what could it have been?

The Girl fumed silently. Such incomplete train of thoughts founded on nothing and leading nowhere has always vexed the Girl. And if ever, this conundrum takes the crown of all Vexations. The image of a tear-streaked weepy Girl abruptly invaded her train of thought.

The Girl snorted, and ruminated bitterly. '_I looked pathetic.'_

But what if what she saw was not another she, but some mirage? An illusion… Maybe a trick of light?

'_Right... A mirage, illusion, or trick of light that recognizes the viewer. That would be a first. And that animal... Youjyuu? That doesn't look like any Youjyuu I've seen before. Why would I imagine up something I don't even recognize?_'

Some things just make no sense at all.

But just when she was about to hazard another guess, the ridiculousness of her hypothesizing and speculating, and coming up with absurd conspiracy theories finally dawned on the Girl. The truth was so obvious. Of course it made no sense. It was _supposed _to make no sense. The Girl concluded with elation: She had remembered nothing. All she remembered was what she _believed_ she remembered. _'All that happened was that I hit my head on some funny rock, and had a funny hallucination. That's it. That's all. After all, there's the Nahjil… I'm still home. I'm just lying down carelessly in some desolate, deserted beach. I'm still home,' _the Girl decided firmly.

Home. That greatly reassured the Girl. She was still _Home_, where she belonged. Idly, she began woolgathering, a lazy grin on her face. '_And soon, Shoka would come fetch me. He'd scold me for running off on some hare-brained trip, clumsily falling from my ride and then just lying lazily about. Well, that's the way things are. Can't help it, so I might as well get over it. Hmm… then, I'll have a nice, hot bath. A feast after that. That is a must. And then… and then…'_

The Girl yawned, content as she is. She had absolutely nothing to be anxious or vexed about. And to think she had worried over nothing! A headache over nothing! The Girl snorted. She'd might as well indulge in some well-earned laziness. And she _didn't care_ if the people who find her think of her as being _improper_. '_So there!'_

_'And if no one comes, I'll just walk home. In the meantime… I think a nap would do quite nicely.' _Curling into fetal position, her eyes already heavily lidded, the Girl mused sleepily.

"What was I worried for? After all, I'm still…"

She never finished her mutterings; sleep had claimed her.

* * *

Later, the subdued people of the land would venture out to see for themselves the destruction the unnatural storm had wreaked, a destruction of all that they ever had. Bitter would be their lament to the gods they worship. _What have they done to deserve this life? _What have they done to deserve an incompetent, but prideful lord as their leader, and his carefree and indolent son, as their next, and now this… disaster? Their _kuni, _their province seemed headed down the path of destruction. Such were the despairing thoughts of the people. And the people, despondent and superstitious, immediately casted the blame on the presence of a bad spirit, for bad luck must have visited the land because the Gods have abandoned this spiritually- tainted land. Perhaps the presence of a _bakemono, _a monster, or an unnatural being, in the land had brought about this disaster. But such stories are common during times of great misery. And so though the people of the Komatsu-no-Kuni, the Province of Komatsu, eagerly lapped up stories of monsters, and beasts, and demonic witches, most knew subconsciously that when times changed for the better, such stories would instantly be forgotten. And after all, simply no one has ever found a monster to slay, to directly cast the blame.

Until now.

Though it is a thing that 19-year-old Komatsu Saburou Naotaka, carefree and indolent son of Komatsu Jubei Naoshige, incompetent, but prideful lord of Komatsu-no-Kuni, doesn't know yet; it is his destiny to become a hero and the slay _Yuki-Onna_, Snow Woman, a monstrous witch, and save the land and its people from destruction.

And as for the Girl sleeping without a care on the desolate beach upon an unnamed bay in the Seto Inland Sea, in the Province of Komatsu, her with rippling hair as white as snow, pale skin and fierce glacial blue eyes; features alien in all of Japan. What she doesn't know yet is that she is very, very, _very _much far away from home.

But such things only come later.

* * *

Author's Notes: This title of the story is exactly it is; a prelude. Meaning a prequel to the main body of the story; which _will _be set in the Twelve Kingdoms; which is still in the works. Though I do have the general idea of how I want things to happen. Right. I hope my OC, the nameless Girl, who won't be so nameless soon, is not a MarySue. I'm trying to not make her a MarySue because I dislike MarySues with a passion. You didn't get to see her flaws this chapter, but she will have plenty. Plenty of them. Hopefully, it'll make her endearing. Though she gets very frustrating at times. And yeah, she's a main character. Though, the majority of this story would be set in Naotaka, or Shouryuu's PoV.

This fic, if you haven't guessed yet, is set in Warring States Japan period. There were many provinces at that time, which were called _kuni._ Though _kuni_ usually means 'country', I used the (proper) term 'province'. The Province of Komatsu is fictional. Its just something Ono-sensei created, and I used. It is in the region of the Seto Inland Sea, a fact Ono-sensei described. That region is known for its moderate climate, it is called '_Hare no kuni' _ or Land of Fair Weather, so a storm of such magnitude described in the first part of this chapter is _quite _unnatural. But, we all know the reason for it, right?

_Yuki-onna _is a fairly well-known mythical being. These days, she is treated in a more sympathetic light, but back then, she was generally seen as evil. Hmm... I smell a plot! Well, I do hope you aren't too put off by the story being set in Japan as opposed to the 12 kingdoms world, and it being a none-Youko centric fic, or really series. Even if she appears, at most, she'll just be a minor character. I actually wanted to go directly into the main arc of the series, which is set in the 12 kingdoms world. But then, the yarn grew more complex, and demanded care and attention. So, I realized that if I'm going to do it, I might as well do it properly. Enjoy!


End file.
